40 Sunroom Ideas To Make the Most of This Airy, Light-Flooded Bonus Space

A sunroom is a welcome bonus space that provides access to natural light any time of the year and in any weather. Sunrooms come in many shapes and sizes, from small front or back porch conversions to spacious additions that feature all-weather insulation, climate control, fireplaces, and other features.

You can make the most of your sunroom with the right furniture and accessories by turning it into a conservatory filled with plants, adding a dining table or seating area, or repurposing it as playroom, home office, game room, painting studio, or entertaining space.

Have a look at these stylish sunroom ideas for inspiration.

Hang a Punching Bag

Turn a small sunroom into a home gym that lets you get a workout in no matter the weather. The Novogratz hung a punching bag and made room for a yoga mat in this whitewashed space with a leafy view for an indoor-outdoor feel.

Add Patterned Tile Flooring

Upgrade dated sunroom flooring with patterned tiles for a stylish look, like this space from Becca Interiors. Comfortable seating, a coffee table, and an end table make it an ideal spot to curl up with a book or entertain friends who stop by for a cup of tea.

Set Up a Dining Table

Turn your sunroom into a dining room for sit-down meals and entertaining. This updated 70s Pittsburgh home from Leanne Ford Interiors has a bump-out sunroom dining room with wraparound windows and whitewashed finishes that has sweeping views of the outdoors.

A set of buttercup yellow Panton chairs with groovy vintage curves lets the sunshine in even on cloudy days, and provides a color accent that energizes the space.

Add Extra Light Fixtures

While sunrooms don't generally need extra lighting when used by day, incorporate extra light fixtures if you want to use yours after dark.

BHDM Design added a large table lamp and a contemporary pendant light to this Long Island, NY that turns it into a perfect spot for cocktail hour. If your sunroom isn't wired for electricity, use solar lamps or portable indoor-outdoor LED lamps for a quick fix.

Cover the Windows

While some people leave their sunroom windows bare, it's worth considering installing shades or blinds for light and climate control (and privacy) when needed, especially if your sunroom faces south.

Britt Design Studio installed both woven Roman shades and drapes along one wall of this neutral-toned sunroom, outfitted with a large sectional sofa.

Set Up a Sunroom Game Room

If you love to spend summer afternoons playing board games with the family, turn your sunroom into a game room with a table and seating.

Kate Marker Interiors turned this back porch cottage sunroom into a light and airy game room with cozy mismatched seating and white walls and window shades.

Create a Lounge Space

Turn your sunroom into a comfortable lounge space with plenty of seating for friends and family. This modern farmhouse sunroom from Crisp Architects has a palette of white, black, and gray, with large twin sofas, white shiplap walls, black casement windows, and a large area rug to anchor the space.

Cover Walls in Painted Wood

Freshen up your sunroom with a coat of white paint. Chango & Co. covered the vertical shiplap walls, trim, and beadboard ceiling of this cozy sunroom in the same shade of bright white for a cohesive feel.

Add Boho Style

Give your sunroom a boho-style makeover with a low table surrounded by floor pillows. This screen porch turned three-season sunroom from A Beautiful Mess is decorated with plants and a large plush area rug to create a casual hang out and entertaining space.

Add Texture

Add texture to an all-white sunroom by mixing glossy and matte finishes, materials, and natural accents.

Leanne Ford Interiors installed built-in glass-front storage unit on the third wall that mimics the style of the windows, reflecting the leafy views and bouncing around light.

Turn It Into a Music Room

A grand piano turns this sunroom from Kate Marker Interiors into a tranquil music room and gathering spot. Bluestone floors add character to the space, which has direct access to the outdoor space through French doors.

Fill the Space With Plants

A sunroom becomes a winter garden with the addition of plants. A Beautiful Mess filled the empty space by one set of doors with plants and planters of varying heights and sizes for an effortless feel.

Add Sunroom Drapes

This sunroom from Chango & Co. has a U-shaped sectional that seats a crowd, anchored by wrap-around arched windows. Wrap-around white drapes can be used for privacy and light control while fading into the background when they're not needed.

Create a Second Living Room

If your all-weather sunroom includes radiant heat and a fireplace, turn it into a second living room with comfortable seating from Crisp Architects that you can enjoy even when the snow is falling outside.

Set Up an Art Corner

Turn a large sunroom into a multipurpose space with zones for lounging and and art corner with a standing easel, like this space from A Beautiful Mess.

Add a Rolling Art Cart

Outfit your sunroom art studio with a vintage cart on wheels stocked with supplies that can be moved around as the light changes, like this space from A Beautiful Mess.

Create a Sunroom Office

Turn your sunroom into a picture perfect home office, like this space from BHDM Design and ARCHIVE by Dan Mazzarini. The working from home spot includes glossy white painted wood floors, gray walls, and wrap-around white trimmed windows that face the garden and can be opened to let in fresh air.

Add a Hanging Chair

Give your sunroom a breezy bohemian feel with a wicker hanging chair suspended from the ceiling, like this coastal space from Blakely Interior Design.

Hang Sunroom Window Shades

Hang shades on sunroom windows so that you can control temperature and light when needed.

M Lavender Interiors added woven Roman shades to the main windows in this sunroom living room, leaving the top row of single transom windows around the periphery bare.

Add a Sliding Door

Connect your sunroom to the outdoors by trading one set of windows for a sliding glass door, like this space from Crisp Architects that has a sliding French door that leads to an outdoor patio dining area.

Add Colorful Throw Pillows

Blakely Interior Design added banquette seating to maximize space around the picnic-style table in this casual sunroom dining space decorated with woven textures and bright colors.

Use Indoor-Outdoor Furniture

M Lavender Interiors added a simple French-style folding table and chairs to this small screen porch-style sunroom that reinforces the indoor-outdoor feel and creates a flexible and inviting space.

Add a Porch Swing

Add a rustic porch swing to your sunroom for a casual feel. An upholstered swing suspended by rope from the ceiling of this sunroom from Becca Interiors adds a whimsical touch to the light-flooded space. White shiplap walls and a ceiling fan with whitewashed wooden blades adds the airy, coastal feel.

Make It Family-Friendly

Turn a large sunroom into a space that's fun for the whole family, This sunroom from Casa Watkins Living includes a playroom on one end and a comfortable and colorful lounge space on the other that is decorated with boho-style pillows, plants, wall baskets, and a bright patterned area rug.

Add Rattan Furniture

Choose lightweight, portable furniture that is easy to move around and won't weigh down the look of your sunroom for an airy feel.

The sunroom in this 1918 Colonial-style house in Savannah, GA, from Calimia Home is decorated with vintage-style rattan furniture that warms up the tile floors and white walls.

Decorate With Stripes

Give your sunroom a nautical feel by decorating with stripes, like the large area rug and upholstered seating in this space from Martha O’Hara Interiors.

Build Banquette Seating

A Beautiful Mess added a dramatic channel-tufted banquette seating with hidden storage on the far wall of this long and narrow sunroom that turns it into a delightful spot for casual meals and coffee breaks.

Decorate With Earth Tones

Becca Interiors decorated this spacious family room sunroom with comfortable furniture and decor in earth tones that complement the rustic stone fireplace and add contrast with the white walls of windows.

Create a Reading Room

Turn your sunroom into a hybrid reading and dining room with a large farm table and comfortable seating.

Leanne Ford Interiors turned this sunroom into a home library reading room with a large table, comfortable vintage-style office chairs, art and photos, and a textural rug that warms up the brick floors.

Add a Farmhouse Table

A long antique farm table surrounded by vintage white wicker chairs turns this waterfront sunroom in Freeport, ME, from Tyler Karu Design + Interiors into a scenic spot to host a crowd.

Build a Window Seat

This farmhouse sunroom from blogger Liz Marie includes a window seat with built-in storage under the bench that provides a place to read or cuddle up. Gauzy cafe-style curtains hung around the lower half of the white pane windows add softness and can be closed to add privacy or filter light.

Use Natural Wood Tones

Kate Marker Interiors clad the walls, vaulted ceilings, and exposed beams of this spacious sunroom living room in pale hardwood wood rather than white paint to give it a natural and timeless feel that is easier to maintain.

Add Seasonal Decor

Decorate your sunroom with seasonal accents to keep it feeling current. This 1927 screened-in porch turned three-season turned four-season sunroom from Finding Silver Pennies on the Massachusetts shore has evolved over the last century into an all-season gathering space, decorated here for summer with coastal accents.

Create a Mudroom

This Maine sunroom mudroom from Tyler Karu + Interiors has windows on three sides leading to a small front porch. There's bench seating with under-bench storage for taking off and putting on shoes and boots or curling up with a book.

Add a Sunroom Area Rug

Decorate a sunroom like an outdoor living room with comfortable seating and an area rug to warm up tile floors, like this space from Kate Marker Interiors.

Add Scandi Style

This Colorado combination mudroom and sunroom from Fantastic Frank has minimalist Scandi-style vibes with its shades of white, simple furniture, and pale gray painted floorboards.

Hang Curtain Panels

Whittney Parkinson Design mixed modern furniture and antique touches in this light-flooded sunroom living room that is set up for formal entertaining. Short curtain panels help to soften the corners, while woven shades can be closed to filter light.

Set Up a Breakfast Nook

Blogger Liz Marie decorated this modern farmhouse sunroom in shades of white and beige from the walls, ceilings, and windows to the wide, painted floorboards.

Antique-style chairs and a round table float in the middle of the space, a perfect spot for a weekend breakfast.

Create a Sunroom Workspace

In this London sunroom home office from Emilie Fournet Interiors, fabric shades cover the windows of the slanted ceiling to filter light and minimize glare. A large area rug adds coziness.

Decorate With Flowers

A sunroom makes a perfect spot for daytime dining. This sunroom dining room from Becca Interiors has wrap-around windows painted in the same white as the walls and ceiling for a light and airy look.

Wood and leather seating adds warmth, and a row of vases filled with simple flowers reinforces the indoor-outdoor feel.

Is a sunroom addition a good investment?

A sunroom addition can be a good investment that will make your home more livable, especially during winter months if you live in a cold climate. According to Angi, building a sunroom will yield a 49% return on investment.

Are there any downsides to having a sunroom?

One downside of having a sunroom is regularly cleaning the windows to maximize sunlight and keep it looking sharp. Because of all those windows, a sunroom is less energy efficient. You should expect to incur higher energy costs for heated or air-conditioned sunrooms.

Which type of sunroom is best?

The best type of sunroom for your home depends on your needs and budget. The most comfortable and luxurious sunrooms are insulated and climate-controlled for year-round living. A three-season sunroom can be enjoyed in any season except winter, and will cost less to build. A screen room with window screens rather than glass on the windows that keeps the bugs out but lets the breeze in is suitable for mild climates.

Read the original article on The Spruce.